Zodiaco - Quarteira, Portugal     

Older couple/ no children - last mintue break After reading previous reviews felt I had to address the balance!! We booked this hotel as a cheap last minute short break so weren't expecting too much. On arrival it is obvious that this is an older hotel but don't be put off!! The Reception staff were friendly and courteous and check in was straightforward. Our room was spacious, spotlessly clean and comfortable. Large, tiled bathroom with shaver socket, heater and hairdryer. Room was air-conditioned and had TV although only 1 English channel ( but we were in Portugal so wouldn't expect anything more!). We never used the Restaurant apart from breakfast, however the Bar staff were polite and friendly. Breakfast was adequate with a choice of Rolls/Toast, yoghurts and fruit, cheese/cold meats, cereals and various hot/cold drinks. So maybe the cheese was thinly sliced as previously mentioned in a review but you could have as much as you liked so really not much of a problem!! The Hotel is on the outskirts of Quarteira but it is a level walk of no more than 10 mins to reach the beginning of the Promenade and Forte Nova beach. A taxi into Villamoura cost approx 6 euros for a wider choice of shops and restaurants. You get what you pay for and this more than met our expectations. Go with an open mind and enjoy the Portugese sunshine and friendly people!

we got a taxi from the airport to the zodiaco hotel checked in and happen to discuss the amout the taxi ride had cost with the man that checked us in only to discover that taxi man had seen us coming and charged us about £20 more than it should of cost, so was not a great welcome.... we went to our room which was small basic but clean and comfortable.... tv in room only plays portugal tv with the exception of bbc news channel... continental breakfast... toast, cheese/slices of meat.... cereal..... and tea/coffee.... juice( not very nice) .... the hotel has a swimming pool, decent size... but look over the wall and its a main road with traffic whizzing by...they have a small '' kids play ground'' if thats what you would call it.. broken metal swings... metal slide that is just ridiculas (you have to see it) and thats about it. they have a restaurant that serves mostly portugese food.. but honestly cant comment cause we never ate there... the hotel is set in a place where you feel like you are away from any thing exciting and really have to travel out to find different things to do.. the one good main thing is the beach is lovely and if thats your kind of thing you could spend all day everyday there... just tanning....and its only a 10 to 15 min walk away.... be careful of the car drivers out there if you walk ,they dont seem to see the zebra crossings and just zoom straight pass... and generally drive at speed :( the beach has lots of cafes restaurants, places to drink and dull souvineer shops... some of the food was not up to scratch.. but we had the odd nice meal... only stayed for a week and had pizza 3 of the days to avoid dissapointment. we traveled further afield to vilamoura.. where we went on a speed boat trip far out to sea to spot dolphins.. sadly we didnt see no dolphins but the ride was thrilling and we went through rock caves. vila moura is about a 10 to 15 min taxi ride from the hotel, make sure you know roughly how much each journy should cost, so you dont get ripped off..that one taxi driver has given them all a bad name lol also in vilamoura there is a marina which is busy and bustleing with tourist shops restaurants and so on...that over look the big yachts and smaller boats on the water. we booked one excursion through the hotel that have a deal with the companys that do them, on the day we were to go to a animal park we went to the bus stop at the right time and waited for the coach, we waited we waited... an hour later we went back to the hotel and told the man the coach had not come, he called someone and came off the phone and said that they hadnt come because of some fob storey... so we got our money back... we wasnt very happy :( as this was our last day and had no time to plan and book anything other than go to the beach again... the housekeeping do like to come and change yours towels and give your room a quick clean every day so thats a good thing, room has air conditioning which was a godsend... um have i missed anything... dont think so.. hope this helps anyone planning a visit here, oh just one thing... prices- varied from place to place but overal for eating out average... not too cheap not too expensive.